90s Live Now - #3 Smoking Popes

During my teen years, specifically the second half of the 90s since I wasn't allowed to go to shows before I was 16, I tried to get to every concert I could. Of course, with the limited discretionary income that came from my minimum wage grocery store job, this wasn't near as many as I would have liked, and I missed some great shows (Dandy Warhols with special guests Treble Charger and the Longpigs in the 400-person-capacity Sapphire Supper Club comes to mind).

One such show was the Smoking Popes, who were on tour as openers for Tripping Daisy, and played the Embassy in Orlando. For $5. I am kicking my 16-year-old self as I write this. Regardless, the band was a more recent discovery at the time, but buoyed by their insanely great single "Need You Around", I took a chance and got their album Born To Quit as one of my Columbia House free selections.

This ended up being one of the best decisions I have ever made.

The album immediately resonated with me, as their songs of unrequited, near-obsessive love fit perfectly with the unrequited, near-obsessive attraction I felt to a certain lovely young lady at the time. Unsurprisingly, these same feelings emerged while listening to their follow-up album, 1997's Destination Failure, though by that point they were for a different lovely young lady.

By that time, Capitol Records was on the verge of dropping the band and lead singer (and one of three brothers in the band) Josh Caterer began to focus on his Christian faith and the band split up, leaving me having never seen Smoking Popes live.

Until tonight, naturally.

Smoking Popes Live! Tonight! Sold Out!

Once again an opening act, though no longer $5, tonight the Popes played the still-legendary Troubadour in support of Alkaline Trio. (Despite having formed in 1996, the Alkaline Trio didn't really garner a ton of attention until the early part of the 2000s and therefore will never be mentioned again on this blog.) Sixteen years of waiting paid off immediately as they opened with "Before I'm Gone" from Destination Failure, following it up quickly with "Rubella" the second single from Born to Quit.

Though it was a shortened opening set, the Popes flat out brought it as Josh Caterer connected with particular fans in the audience, something that is so very rare at rock shows. On top of that, they were having fun, which is something equally as rare in rock these days.

The easiest way to kill a crowd's enthusiasm is the simple phrase "here's something from our new album", but the Popes kept it short and sweet, playing "Wish We Were" from this year's This Is Only a Test, which fit in perfectly with their older material. Finally, they wrapped up the show with the crowd pleasing, beautiful song "Megan", "Need You Around" and "I Know You Love Me" featuring the second sing-along of the night (the other being "No More Smiles").

Too often, delayed gratification for something you have wanted so badly for so long, but seeing the Smoking Popes was not one of them. I only wish it could have been in 1995 with another band I never got to see, Tripping Daisy.

And for $5.

Whatever.